Group items tagged

"Thanks to the awesome CFF Coach Listserv from Pennsylvania for their collaboration on this list! These essential questions are to help to define what the 'good use' of technology looks like. They are meant to promote thinking about whether the use of technology is meaningful and relevant to the learning. Many of these questions could start with the word "Will" and be followed up with the question, "How?" I chose to start with how, since I think will is too easy to answer with a "Yes." The questions are phrased in a way that would be used in the Before of a Before-During-After coaching consultation or while designing a lesson. With some tweaking, the questions could also be used in the During phase - watching a lesson in action, or the After phase - for reflection."

Essential Apps for Kids and Teens Starter Kits for iPad, iPhone, Android, and Kindle Fire

1. Learners have to be at the center of what happens in the classroom 2. Learning is a social practice and can't happen alone 3. Emotions are an integra part of learning 4. Learners are different 5. Students need to be stretched, but not too much 6. Assessment should be for learning, not of learning 7. Learning needs to be connected across disciplines. cf. the Jenaplan School, Germany

"Engineers at the University of California, San Diego, have developed an iPad app that helps students learn spatial visualization, an essential skill for doing well in science, math and engineering. They have been testing the app during a high school summer program at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, as well as on undergraduate students at the school."

Although the app is not released yet, they do have a form to sign up for news releases and updates on its progress.

"Are you ready to solve the challenges of space? Join the RealWorld-InWorld NASA Engineering Design Challenge! This is a unique education initiative that targets students in grades 9-12 and encourages them to explore and build skills essential for successful careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) through two phases of project-based learning and team competition"

"The National Education Technology Plan, Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, calls for applying the advanced technologies used in our daily personal and professional lives to our entire education system to improve student learning, accelerate and scale up the adoption of effective practices, and use data and information for continuous improvement. It presents five goals with recommendations for states, districts, the federal government, and other stakeholders. Each goal addresses one of the five essential components of learning powered by technology: Learning, Assessment, Teaching, Infrastructure, and Productivity."

"Complex issues of academic language (e.g. vocabulary, syntax, grammar, semantics) impact the choices teachers must make about literacy instruction. Increasing evidence suggests that academic language is today's "hidden curriculum" - rarely explicitly taught, but essential to success in the academic world. This has enormous implications for all educators, from pre-kindergarten to college. The following websites support inquiry into this complex topic."

"OpenZine is a social publishing platform with browser based tools that provides regular people with the essential tools to create really amazing things, display it with equal quality and enables them to socially share, control and manage their ideas. The best way to describe what OpenZine provides is by understanding how magazines work. Magazines have a staff of writers, photographers, designers, illustrators and editors that create & contribute. Here at OpenZine you create & contribute on those same principles but your resources are other OpenZine users! "

"Using Blooms Taxonomy in education is a highly effective way to scaffold learning for the students. With the recent popularity and pervasive nature of iOS devices in school districts it is essential for educators to understand how to implement Blooms in the classroom using the apps that are available. While this list is by no means fully comprehensive, it will assist educators in getting started when implementing iOS devices in the classroom. This site will change almost daily as it will be updated with new and exciting apps! "

Don, I was really excited to see this. But, take a look at the apps in the Creating level. I think they prove my point that the ipad isn't a serious player, yet. If those are prime examples of what can be Created on the ipad, then I still say that it's not the answer to Education's persistant questions. It's a great personal device but not one for school.

This site provides a variety of ready to use lesson plans on a variety of topics. The lessons have an essential question as well as an outline of strategies and activities that can be used to teach them. In addition, if appropriate, graphic organizers will be provided for use with the lessons. When you get to the site use the Find a Lesson Plan search feature to easily see if there is a lesson that aligns to your curriculum.

Ready to use lesson plans from the Smithsonian. Nice Site. Great resource for students and kids.

Using Blooms Taxonomy in education is a highly effective way to scaffold learning for the students. With the recent popularity and pervasive nature of iOS devices in school districts it is essential for educators to understand how to implement Blooms in the classroom using the apps that are available.

This site includes apps aligned to blooms taxonomy.

"Spend a little time learning Skype and you'll soon discover it's much more than a one-trick pony. Sure, Skype's bread and butter is still its ability to let users make phone calls using their broadband connection, but there's so much more you can do with this versatile app."